The San Diego Padres held a moment of silence for former Charger Junior Seau before their game Wednesday. Here, Chargers fan Jacob Shaw of La Jolla wore a Seau jersey while attending the game with his daughter Bianca, 7. — K.C. Alfred

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The San Diego Padres held a moment of silence for former Charger Junior Seau before their game Wednesday. Here, Chargers fan Jacob Shaw of La Jolla wore a Seau jersey while attending the game with his daughter Bianca, 7.
— K.C. Alfred

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Junior Seau seemed fearless and unstoppable, larger than life, which may be why so many people took it so hard Wednesday after he killed himself in his beachfront home in Oceanside.

Police said the retired Chargers star and community legend was found in a bedroom with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. A handgun was near the body. There was no note. An autopsy is scheduled today.

His death touched off a countywide outpouring of grief rarely seen in San Diego, punctuated by his mother’s anguished cries outside Seau’s home on the South Strand, where hundreds of people gathered after the shooting was reported. “Junior,” Luisa Seau wailed. “Why didn’t you tell me you were leaving?”

When the white medical examiner’s van carried her son’s body away, she had to be restrained from running after it.

Seau’s ex-wife, Gina, said she and their three children all received texts from him Tuesday with the same message: “I love you.”

“We’re beyond sad and beyond shocked,” she said. “The kids and I are just huddled together at home. There is no way to make sense of this. I hope and pray everyone remembers what a wonderful man he was.”

From mayor’s offices to youth centers, from corporate boardrooms to the Mission Valley restaurant that bears Seau’s name, people were shocked by the sudden passing of one of San Diego’s most popular heroes, a 43-year-old native son who transcended the football field that made him famous.

“We all lost a friend today,” Chargers President Dean Spanos said in a statement. “He wasn’t just a football player, he was so much more.”

On Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites, the famous and the not-so-famous shared condolences and memories all day long. They talked about Seau’s smile, his relentlessness on the football field, the way he punched the air after a tackle, his charitable foundation to aid at-risk kids.

“He played the game the way it was meant to be played,” tweeted John Elway, the retired Denver Broncos quarterback.

Some fans, like Louie Lieras, were moved when they heard the news to race home and put on Chargers jerseys bearing the familiar number 55. “Seau was my all-time favorite Chargers player,” Lieras said while standing outside Seau’s home.

Across the street, on the beach, a mourner carved a cross in the sand and under it this: “55 RIP.”

California Highway Patrol Officer Jim Bettencourt said Seau appeared to be in high spirits Monday at the Tim Brown celebrity golf tournament in Dana Point. Seau stopped by the CHP’s booth that afternoon on the 11th hole and traded jokes and laughs with the officers.

Tuesday, Seau canceled a scheduled photo session with U-T San Diego, saying he wasn’t feeling well. He sent those last texts to his wife and their children, daughter Sydney and sons Jake and Hunter.

Wednesday morning, his girlfriend went to the gym. When she came home, she found Seau in the bedroom and called 911 at 9:35 a.m.

Other NFL players who have killed themselves in recent years have suffered from the lingering effects of on-field head injuries, leading to speculation about Seau’s case. But none of Seau’s injury reports filed as required by the NFL listed concussion during his nearly 20-year career.

His namesake restaurant, which opened in Mission Valley in 1996, was the most successful of his business ventures, which also included a clothing line, Say Ow Gear.

A check of county and federal court records showed no signs of any recent legal or bankruptcy cases. There are no liens against his $3.2 million home, where he has lived since 2005. A year ago, he took out a $1.1 million mortgage on the property.

He struggled, as many pro athletes do, with a transition to life off the field. When he retired in 2006, it lasted four days. He wound up playing parts of four more seasons.

He also had a close friend, Olympic volleyball medalist Mike Whitmarsh, die in a carbon-monoxide suicide in February 2009. At the memorial service, held at his restaurant, Seau said, “If you came looking for answers, you won’t find them here,” according to an account at CBSSports.com. “All you’re going to get here is a free Coors Light. Only Whitty and God know the answers, and we aren’t going to see them for a while.”

In October 2010, Seau was arrested at his home on suspicion of assaulting his 25-year-old girlfriend. Hours later, driving his Cadillac Escalade on Palomar Airport Road in Carlsbad, he plunged down a 30-foot coastal bluff.

He was hospitalized with injuries. He denied trying to kill himself, and officers said he had fallen asleep at the wheel.

At the time, Seau’s ex-wife said he would never hurt anyone, including himself. The District Attorney’s Office did not charge Seau in the domestic violence incident.

Chargers chaplain Shawn Mitchell, who spoke with Seau in the hospital following the crash, said the athlete was tearful as he expressed gratitude for being alive.

“He said angels of God protected him,” the pastor recalled Wednesday. “He was so amazed his life could have been snuffed out. He continued on.”

His fans should do the same, said Miles McPherson, pastor at The Rock Church and a former Chargers player.

“It’s things like this that happen to make you realize what’s really important in life,” McPherson said. “It’s not what you own or accomplish, it’s who you love and how you love them. Let’s turn this tragedy into a lesson for us.”

Seau grew up in Oceanside, where he was a three-sport star in high school. Parade magazine named him to its prep All-American football team. Oceanside High head coach John Carroll said Seau often spoke to his teams before championship games, including last December at Qualcomm Stadium.

“It was a wonderful message of teamwork,” Carroll said Wednesday. “Of leaving yourself behind and being there for each other. He was always a Pirate.”

At USC, Seau was an All-American linebacker. In the first round of the 1990 pro draft, the Chargers took him with the fifth pick. He was soon a star, and the next year brought the first of 12 consecutive Pro Bowl selections.

He was a key player on the 1994 team that went to the Super Bowl. His death continues an eerie legacy from that squad: eight players have died before age 45, including one by plane crash and another by lightning.

The Chargers traded him to Miami in 2003. He played three seasons for the Dolphins and then announced his retirement, which he called a “graduation” to the next phase of his life. However, he quickly signed with the New England Patriots and played parts of four more seasons. In November, Seau was inducted into the Chargers Hall of Fame.

Off the field, he established the Seau Foundation in 1992, which has contributed $4 million to programs for children and young adults. Last fall, he raised $25,000 for a new athletic training facility at Oceanside High. For 20 years he hosted the Junior Seau Celebrity Golf Classic, which benefits his foundation.

Seau’s restaurant in Mission Valley was closed Wednesday, but people came anyway.

Michael Hernandez, 35, of Chula Vista brought a football and set it among the flowers and candles left by other mourners. On the football he’d written, “Thank you for the memories.”